FRITZ NEIGHBOR
SPORTS EDITOR
Fritz Neighbor is the Sports Editor for the Daily Inter Lake. He oversees sports coverage across the Flathead Valley, including high school athletics, youth sports, and regional competitions. In his leadership role, he helps shape the newspaper’s sports coverage and editorial direction. Fritz’s column, Full Count, taps into his decades’ long career covering Montana sports. You’ll also see Fritz sharing his thoughts and insights on the Big Sky Now podcast.
IMPACT: Fritz’s work celebrates the athletes and teams that bring Northwest Montana communities together.
Recent Stories
Column: The positives hiding behind the record
Flathead softball heading in the right direction
Flathead’s Eacker, Glacier’s Brisendine win divisional titles
There are plenty of heroes to choose from for Glacier’s half-point edge over Missoula Big Sky for fourth place in the Western A boys’ divisional Saturday, including Tate Kauffman and Kale Mayhue.
Bravettes’ Perrin wins 3,200; Hellgate, Sentinel lead divisional
The points spread out on a cool, overcast day at Legend Stadium, where Missoula Hellgate leads a balanced girls field at the Western AA Divisional track and field meet Friday.
Flathead thrower Eacker, thrown a curve in January, is finishing strong
Rebecca Eacker’s senior year in athletics hasn’t gone exactly as planned, unless you can plan to pop a knee ligament, then pop a few big throws not even three months later.
On your marks: Western AA track switches to Legends
The Western AA Divisional track meet originally set for Butte’s Bulldog Memorial Stadium has been moved to Kalispell, at the direction of the AA athletic directors.
Lions, Valkyries head to State B golf
Bigfork freshman Colin Wade looks to challenge for boys’ medalist
COLUMN: Peripatetic Ronan grad returns home
Nate Harris was well-traveled by the time he was a second-grader, so it makes sense that his coaching career can be described the same way.
Big inning sparks Glacier’s crosstown win
Take away that crooked number and the last crosstown softball game of the season might still be going.
Glacier's Taylor Brisendine is saving her best marks for last
Taylor Brisendine is all of 5-foot-6 and appears to have mastered the art of the small sample size.
Perrin, Bravettes cruise to crosstown win
Spring of 2020 was a lost season for Hannah Perrin and the rest of the Flathead track team thanks to the pandemic, and that was tough enough.
Bigfork’s Duke has risen above tough times
During an April 6 triangular meet at Legends Stadium, Wyatt Duke set an early tone for his senior track and field season by clearing 6 feet, 8 inches to win the high jump.
Slick sophomore season continues for Johnston
Four really good shots had Ryggs Johnston, a sophomore at Arizona State, on the cusp of the Pac-12 men’s golf championship last week.
Whitefish’s Ells heading down homestretch in fine form
Speedster turned racer
When Mikenna Ells got to be a freshman at Whitefish High, track coach Kelliann Blackburn knew she had a speedster on her hands.
COLUMN: HR derby to decide extras? Sign me up
Once upon a time fans of the Billings Mustangs used to enjoy “Foamers,” which was a 10-minute period after a player from the home team hit a homer in which fans could get free adult beverages.
AA Lakers win home opener over Mariners
The AA Kalispell Lakers’ home opener at Griffin Field Wednesday had all the essentials, including timely hits and some nice defense.
COLUMN: All the signs tell us it is football season
Maybe it is football season. It felt like it Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, where the bright sunshine made it feel like a mid-September home game, minus 20,000 or so fans.
Farrell helps Glacier to crosstown sweep
The Glacier Wolfpack didn’t have all its usual suspects for a conference crosstown softball game with Flathead Tuesday, so somebody had to come up large.
Catching on with the Griz
Glacier’s Kynzie Mohl does it all, but especially at the plate
Lakers’ talented throwers to lead way
Last year's rotation returns mostly intact
Glacier Twins get early start to Legion season
Play Missoula Mavericks AA today
Griz complete spring football campaign with another rout
Nick Ostmo rushes for three touchdowns
Competition rises for Grizzlies today
Coming off a 59-3 laugher over Central Washington last Saturday, the competition turns up a couple notches today with Montana playing host to Portland State’s football team at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
COLUMN: Mining City stop leads Holsinger to Lady Griz
Brian Holsinger’s first interview for a head coaching job in Montana came at the end of a steep descent into Butte.
O-line coach Cummings elevated to guide Flathead
Flathead High found its next football coach on its own staff, elevating Alex Cummings to lead the program in 2021.
Griz work over Central Washington in wintry mix
MISSOULA — It was early in the third quarter that Saturday’s game between the Montana Grizzlies and Central Washington started to look more like the 2014 Griz blowout more than the 2008 nail-biter.
Griz ready to battle Wildcats after long layoff
In 2008 the Central Washington Wildcats came to Washington-Grizzly Stadium and the Montana Grizzlies needed a last-second field goal to prevail 38-35.
Column: Let’s call it what it is: Game Day
I didn’t record the exact phrasing of the question at Monday’s “presser” in the corner of the Washington-Grizzly Stadium end zone, but it was along the lines of: Isn’t this a chance to get a lot of younger players reps against Central Washington?
Flathead softball squad looks to trend up
Veteran coach Jack Foster likes the makeup of this year’s Flathead High softball team which, like everyone else, has been cooling its cleats for the better part of two years.
Staying the course: Glacier to continue diamond success
The bad news is that Glacier’s softball team graduated seven seniors last spring — a talented bunch that didn’t play an inning because the pandemic cancelled spring sports in Montana.
Bigfork’s Wyatt Duke soars to personal best in high jump
Conditions weren’t optimal for running fast times at Legends Stadium, where host Flathead ran a time trials meet Tuesday: Runners had to contend with a bracing head wind on the straightaway.
Whitefish’s Ross fulfills dream with West Point appointment
Camren Ross was on a long bus ride to Miles City in early March when his cell phone rang. To his surprise it was Montana senator Jon Tester, telling the Whitefish senior he’d realized a dream: He had a spot at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York.
Area track teams ready to hit the oval after lost season
There was supposed to be a track and field season in 2020 until there wasn’t, and now the area high school teams are picking up the pieces.
Solid, perfect: ‘Power Pete’ shoots his age
Peter LeDonne felt fortunate for what the game of golf has brought, and that was before the former local PGA pro found a little extra luck around St. Patrick’s Day.
Whitefish golfer Cameron Kahle headed to Air Force Academy
Cameron Kahle split the fairway again this week with his acceptance of an appointment to the Air Force Academy, where the Whitefish senior will compete in Division I golf.
Class A Softball: Short-handed Wildkats can’t wait around
We’re still in a pandemic, nobody has played a game since 2019 and it’s spring break at his school, so Columbia Falls’ coach Dave Kehr isn’t sure what the upcoming softball season holds.
Column: Bauska: About the best the Valley could offer
He could run a business, dominate the low blocks and pour a mean pitcher, but Greg Bauska’s impact on the Flathead Valley is best measured in the friendships he made.
Column: Rambled out of Georgia and found home
Sometime between Charles Kenney’s playing career and his latest trip to the NHBS HomeSchool Nationals, I became aware of the Yellowstone County Home School basketball teams.
Column: Add up the bad breaks and get a title
Ryan Nelson came to the Flathead Valley to get away from the effects COVID-19 was having on his school and athletics. The pandemic caught up to him anyway.
Jaxson Olsen plays a big game inside for Pack
Weston Price stands 6-foot-5 and Noah Dowler is a legit 6-7 and has the dunks to prove it, but if there is one Glacier post player that gets the defense scrambling, it is 6-1 Jaxson Olsen.
Glacier cagers prep for challenge at State AA tourney
The good news is that the Glacier Wolfpack girls are headed to the State AA basketball tournament for a fifth straight year.
Brave Brawlers back on top
The Flathead Brave Brawlers got back to the top of the State AA wrestling heap, and it took about two dozen of them to make it happen on their home mats.
Flathead’s Richberg finds himself back on the mat
A tough week for Flathead senior wrestler Timber Richberg ticked up a little bit Friday, when the heavyweight dispatched his first-round opponent at the State AA meet in 55 seconds.
Brave Brawlers sitting on first-day lead
Flathead’s Brave Brawlers are enjoying their home court, or mats, if getting eight wrestlers into the semifinals of the State AA wrestling tournament means anything.
Glacier girls come up deuces, punch ticket to state
Fittingly, for the second straight time against Helena the Glacier girls’ basketball team fell behind and then owned the second quarter.
Flathead, Glacier wrestlers roll out the welcome mats
It’s the first time the State AA wrestling championships have been in Kalispell since 1982, and it’s going to be a little different this time around.
Lion-Blue Hawk mat battle lining up again for State B-C
While the Kalispell schools gear up for the State AA wrestling meet coming to Flathead High Friday and Saturday, area teams could make noise at the State A and State B-C championships.
Column: A long time coming for Erik the Great
On Sunday at Montana Snowbowl ski area outside of Missoula, Erik Wilson flew 183 feet through the air and under the radar.
Spohnhauer spins Wolfpack into State AA tourney
Spohnhauer spins Wolfpack into State AA tourney
A third straight stop, a perfect outlet pass and Keifer Spohnhauer’s layup as time expired lifted the Glacier Wolfpack over Missoula Hellgate Tuesday, 45-43 in a State AA boys’ basketball play-in game.
The Pack has a Price
Senior forward Weston Price leads Glacier up against Hellgate
Price leads Glacier with 11.5 points per game
Keller, Glacier escape Flathead with win
It was the final crosstown hoops game of the season, and it had the heat.